


Shards

by HybridComplex



Series: Lost and found [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: A Bit of Fluff, A bit of gore, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-28
Updated: 2012-05-28
Packaged: 2017-11-06 04:11:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/414553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HybridComplex/pseuds/HybridComplex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Still, no one expected Tony to actually take care of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shards

Bruce still flinches when he's not fully aware that someone is going to touch him. The eight green flecks in each of his eyes -and they know that for a fact because Clint had counted through the window one day, sitting with Hank and Tasha in the thick grass across the yard from the mansion- expand until all the brown is gone and all that's left in the world is fear and that makes Tony _angry_.

The fury feels like fire in his chest, intensified by smooth metal plating that vibrates with his heartbeat. For three days he feels nothing else, curled into a large chair between bed and chirping machines, eyes drawn to the thin purpled skin stretched tight over cheek bones and clavicles and ribs. The shadows beneath his eyes are pale green and he seems caught in a perpetual nightmare.

Tony knows what that's like but he also doesn't because his torment lasted a handful of hours -carved into his memory with sharp scalpels and a small electric saw his father had built specially for cracking and cutting into his only child's chest and _pain and screaming and the wet sound of ribs snapping and Howard Stark choking on his own blood_ \- not months spent as a starving lab rat being pumped full of chemicals and fucking king cobra venom and _acid_.

He wakes with a shuddered whimper and Tony is already babbling away, telling him all about the mansion and the labs and pretending he doesn't notice when a few tears roll down his cheeks. It's the fourth time he's woken this way and Tony _hurts_ , aches somewhere between muscle and steel _iron_ silver _palladium_ and imagines killing General Ross slowly, pulling the fillings from his teeth, twisting the pins pressed close to long-since healed bones, stopping the lifeblood from moving in his veins.

When Bruce looks at him like he  _knows_ , can see the scenes playing in his mind like Charles -and they'll be talking about that later if Tony lets the man catch him- with no trace of anger on his face or in his eyes, only shimmering emerald shards and understanding and longing for so many things, Tony breathes deep and fetches the tray of food he's been keeping warm on his own bed across the room.

And if his alloy heart starts to vibrate for a whole different reason when Bruce manages a smile and curls weak fingers through his own and lets him feed him, well. That's Tony's business and Charles will just give him that aching little smile and won't mention it.

**Author's Note:**

> For now I'm only going to post snippets of the mutant-vengers!verse, but eventually, if I get inspired enough, I might write something longer.
> 
> If you have anything you'd like to see, send me a prompt on here or Tumblr (I'm hybridcomplex over there too) and I might write it (:


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